Only One Week...

It is hard to believe, we have been in Kaçanik for just one week.  It was a busy week with getting settled in, unpacked, and starting our volunteer work.  Everything is pretty comfortable and it feels like we have been here longer than a week.  

The view of the river in Kaçanik Friday evening

We had an eventful weekend and fortunately, we are off today.  It it Orthodox Easter and that means it is a day off for schools.  We have another school holiday on Thursday for Europe Day.  We are never quite sure what will be opened and what will be closed, but I do know that schools are closed and Thom doesn't have any thing with Gjethi.  The coffee shops and Euro stores always seem to be open even when it's a holiday.

Saturday, we went to Ferizaj which has a population around 100,000.  That is the population of the municipality, which I believe is roughly equivalent to a county in the U.S.  We went there for two main reason, to have the specialty apartment key made and to meet with an Albanian tutor.  It was raining really hard when we caught the 10 am bus to Ferizaj.  Fortunately, we live close to the bus station.

By the time, we got to Ferizaj the rain had stopped.  We found our way to the key shop and he made the two additional keys for 4 euros and then we did a little shopping a the very nice shopping area called The Villages.  This is similar to shopping areas in the U.S. complete with KFC and Burger King (with a drive thru no less).  We stopped at the Viva Fresh in the shopping area and I found some vegan products including tofu, tofu cheese spread, and cinnamon bun flavored soy milk.  I was happy to find these things a short bus ride from Kaçanik.  

The courthouse in Ferizaj (basic court)

The side by side church and mosque in the city center of Ferizaj

After Viva Fresh, we met Noah (a volunteer from our group whose site is the Ferizaj municipality) and had a nice lunch.  We then walked to his apartment or Hotel Jenoah, as he calls it.  He has a two bedroom apartment with four couches that fold out into beds.  He can almost host all of KOS 9 at his apartment.  Our apartment seems to be a little newer and a little nicer.  But his place is nice as well.

Noah walked back with us through the city center until it was time to meet our potential tutor (Shpresim Hyseni) at 2 pm.  Shpresim has worked as a language tutor in the past with Peace Corps and is tutoring another volunteer in the area and Noah may have him as a tutor as well.  We met him in front of the municipality and then headed to a coffee shop.  Our timing was good, because as we were seated in the coffee shop, it started raining really hard again.  

We talked a bit and agree to lessons in Kaçanik starting on Thursday this week.  He has the time as he is a school teacher and does not have school on Thursday.  He will come to Kaçanik for our first lessons and we will figure it out from there.  He was also able to point us in the direction of a store that might have the unusual lightbulbs for the fixtures that we have in the apartment in the living room and kitchen.  The store had the lightbulbs for our fixtures and we were able to get some replacements finally.  It was a good shopping day as were able to find a few things that we really needed, a few things that are useful to have, and the apartment keys.  

Yesterday was a really entertaining day as we went out with some people from the environmental group (Gjethi) that Thom is working with.  There is a trail from Kaçanik that goes to two waterfalls on the Morova River.  This river continues through a number of communities including Kamenice, before it leaves Kosovo for Serbia.  It is an 8 mile walk from Kaçanik (about 16 miles round trip).  The group maintains the trail and the various picnic areas along the way.  The group funded the picnic areas by each of the waterfalls including a picnic platform at the one waterfall.  

The group met at the Shok Coffee Shop first (which is less than 5 minutes from our apartment) and where I saw the principal from my school.  He was meeting with some people from Switzerland, who are looking to hire young electricians out of the vocational high school.  We had coffee with Sami, Valon, and Remzi (from Gjethi) and two others that were along to help.  After coffee, we all got ready for the drive that would bring us to the waterfall with only a short hike.  

To get to the site, we drove toward the village of Korbliq.  This was once a small village, but now has only one residence with horses, chickens, and a small farm.  Once again, as we drive to the location Valon tells about the diaspora, the people who have left to bigger cities in Kosovo or to other countries.  This is a common thread that we hear everywhere we go.

The view of Mt. Ljuboten when we stopped at a gas station on the way to the worksite

The map below shows the 50 minute (or more) ride we took to get to Korbliq and the end of the paved road.  On the way to Korbliq, Valan told us that it was in Letnicë, Kosovo that Mother Teresa was called to her life of service.  I had seen photos and a statue of Mother Teresa in Prishtine, but I did not know why.  Now, I know why and the link above is to an NBC news article about Letnicë and Mother Teresa.  Letnicë is circled in the map below.  

Mother Teresa was born in Skopje, but was of Albanian descent and there is more about her early life in the link above.  There was a beautiful catholic church in Viti on our way to the site.  According to Valon, Viti has a more mixed ethnic make up with Serbian, Romani, and Albanian population and as a result there are several mosque, a catholic church and a orthodox church in Viti.  Kaçanik has a less diverse population.

The map of our drive to the waterfalls

We drove through Viti (municipality population around 48,000) which means it is more populace than Kaçanik and then headed south on a road that is fairly new.  According Valon, it was to connect to Kaçanik, but Kaçanik did not finish building their portion.  We rode to the site with Remzi and Valon while Sami road with his father-in-law.   Once the new road ended, we all loaded into the white van that the other two guys were in and we took the rugged dirt road as close as we could get.  We had a bit of stuff to carry, so it was good that we could get fairly close.  We had paint for the wooden tables and decks and black paint for the metal structure, plus brushes, paint thinner, saws, boards (to replace to boards in the platform), toolkits, drills, and a large box of food.  

We first walked to the waterfall with the platform.  This area required the most work.  The river was high and the trail was partially underwater, but it was not too bad.  Once we arrived, a few of the guys started working to replace the boards, some of them cleaned up trash around the platform and then started painting the metal frame of the platform.  Some of us started painting the picnic tables.  The paint for the tables and platform was a rustic red and they got it because it was cheaper.  After working for a while, Sami's father-in-law opened a bottle of red wine.  This is the first wine I have had since arriving.  It was from Montenegro and it was pretty good.  Once the boards were replace, we painted the second table and the platform.  Then we walked back to the first picnic table that was at the beginning of the trail to the waterfall and we had lunch of bread, vegetables, olives, canned lunchmeat (think spam and deviled ham), a mild feta like cheese, and another bottle of wine (a nice Merlot).  After lunch, we cleaned up and left two people to paint this table and headed to the second waterfall.  There we painted two benches, two picnic tables, and half of the bridge.  While some of us painted, others cut back the trees and shrubs that threatened to overtake the tables and benches.

Photos from our work day with Gjethi

The van we rode for the last part of our ride 

The first picnic table and signage to the waterfall

The road leading to the trailhead for the second waterfall

Gjethi signage about the area and the waterfalls

Working to replace broken boards on the platform

One of the guys cleaning below the platform

Wine break

Finishing the platform after both tables are painted

Stopping for lunch

The second waterfall

Painting the bridge until the run out of paint

Freshly painted picnic table, Sami's family made them

Weird bug I found along the way

The horse of the last village resident

Once we finished painting, we took a little break to enjoy the waterfalls and the woods, and then we headed back to the van.  We had a slow ride back to Kaçanik as we stopped at a coffee stand in a parklike setting close to Korbliq.  There use to be a restaurant at the site, but it went bankrupt and closed.  We had coffee and enjoyed the peaceful setting (and the sound of the fake waterfall) and learned more from Valon and Remzi about the goals of Gjethi.  We also stopped in Viti in the city center.  It was very pretty, but not as charming as Kaçanik as Viti is in a very flat area and you do not have good views of the mountains.  The city center was very well-done and for the most part free of litter.  There is a pretty park by the city center with lots of grass and trees (something that is really lacking in the city center being built in Kaçanik).  We saw the House of Culture (Shtëpia e Kulturës), which looks very similar to the ones in Kamenice and in Kaçanik.  The love of Americans is ever present with a picture of Madeleine Albright's (Clinton's Secretary of State) photo painted on the building next to the House of Culture and a statue of Richard Holbrook who was part of a special envoy to resolved the crisis in Kosovo near the city center.  If you want to be loved for just being an American, Kosovo is the place to visit.  Despite the passage of years, they still appreciate what the US did for them and are still very thankful.

Walking the path back to the coffee stand

The restaurant that shut down

The coffee stand is the small building in the back of the photo

Old village equipment

At the coffee shop

The city center of Viti

The park next to the city center

The house of culture and Madeleine Albright

Motorcycles by the park

Red phone booth (there is a phone in there)

Chess tables at the park

Playground at the park

Statue of Richard Holbrook and ever present American Flag

View of Ljuboten from the car

After our stop in Viti, we headed home.  Remzi dropped us in front of our apartment building in time for me to make a salad and heat up some leftovers for dinner.  After dinner, we took a quick stroll along the river.  It was the end of a very enjoyable day in Kosovo.